Timmyk

Guest
Well to start this is not a SEAT however this is my project car.

I brought this 1973 Hillman Imp in 2010 for £150.00. It was a rolling shell and my original intentions was to turn it back into life with an original 875cc engine.

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I had originally intended on doing all the work my self and self teach myself mechanics.

The first step was to upgrade the suspension and so I brought a set of GAZ front coilovers and rear adjustable dampers with Monte Carlo 1" lowering springs.

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I then purchased a "sold as seen" 875cc engine with a Fiesta Zetec front disc conversion. After stripping the engine back I was disappointed to find it was seized and needed a rebore. So after wasting £300 I decided to have a think about the direction.

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I have always wanted a fast road/track ready car so I decided lets add some power......

Whilst I thought about a suitable engine I brought a roll cage. It needed some TLC so I brought it back to life.

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I also brought a set of Corbeau Forza Sport bucket seats with harnesses, Replica Works Rally Dash, OMP Style deep dish steering wheel & MGB Gauges.

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So up to this stage it took me up to November 2012 :( As you can see i;m not the fastest mechanic and soon realised I was out of my depth....

I contact a local garage called Southways and we discussed various options such as R1 engine, original 998cc Rally engine and a few others.

I arranged to get the car collected on 8th December for what was going to be a very special one off project after finding a suitable engine. Before they collected the car I fitted a set of JBW wheels 13" x 5.5 with Toyo Proxes.

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Before

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After

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Day of collection

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So after a few days hunting eBay we found the perfect donor car....... A 1998 Saxo VTR.

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The car cost £300 and was a runner. It didnt look much but after a session on the rollers in averaged 95.5bhp! That was 3bhp over the factory 92bhp! :)

So the garage started to pull the engine out of the Saxo ready for its transplant.

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So whilst the garage cracked on with that i decided to research some go faster parts and ended up buying quite a few goodies! Newman PH3 Rally/Tarmac fast road cam, Bogg Brothers Custom Inlet Manifold with Fireblade Carbs, 1" Sport Drive Shafts, custom carbon fibre bib spoiler and a Racelands 4-2-1 exhaust manifold.

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We then hit a stumbling block.... what gearbox to use? As the original Imp was transaxle and the Saxo being transverse we didnt have much to go with. We looked into using a UN1 box from an R5 GTT however after some research I didnt have the £2k asking price. We hit the skids in early January until after a chat to an Imp specialist we got some great advice and I had a mk3 4 speed Imp gearbox refurbished with a beefier diff pin.

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We are now in the stages of having a custom adaptor plate and custom flywheel made in order for it to fit together.

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Template ready for engineer's.

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Hmmm think ground clearance is going to be an issue!


So whats the final plan?

Well its going to be a replica Monte Carlo Rally edition running approx 120bhp @ 750kg (should be nippy!) running a megajolt ecu, plenty of custom carbon goodies, custom OEM looking exhaust silencer, Monte Carlo 73 Rally Graphics & other goodies.

I hope you like and i'll keep you guys posted on future works. If anyone is interested Southways Automotive have an Facebook page which shows the progress also.

;)
 
Always had a soft spot for well modified retro cars

Especially those with clever engine work!